‘Dementia’ Asks Worthy Questions

It should be easy to live proudly, without regret--and when the time comes, to die that way too.

But for Moises, who’s about to make that big exit, the situation has become complicated. His closest friends and family are gathered for one last party when secrets come bubbling up, scattering people to separate parts of the house. Aware of things crumbling around him, Moises slips into another fog bank of AIDS-related dementia, where a new clarity emerges.

Other plays would collapse under the weight of all the issues that Evelina Fernandez piles onto “dementia,” receiving its world premiere as a Latino Theatre Company presentation at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. Yet Fernandez’s story keeps getting stronger as the load increases.

The production marks a dazzling return for the Latino Theatre Company, which got its start as the Latino Theatre Lab at the center in the mid-1980s and has passed through other incarnations on its way to the present one. The company has remained largely out of sight in the six years since its presentation at the center of Fernandez’s “Luminarias,” which was then made into a movie.

A sense of purpose drives the return. AIDS, same-sex desire and other topics in “dementia” are taboo in much of the Latino community. Before Thursday’s opening performance, company artistic director and “dementia” director Jose Luis Valenzuela said he wanted to get people talking, because in the silence, the number of AIDS infections just keeps increasing.

The story unfolds against a two-story backdrop of dark, brooding clouds and fluttering black birds (designed by Laura Fine). While Moises (Sal Lopez) lies in bed, hooked to an IV drip, a drag queen (Richard Coca) in a dazzling indigo gown materializes on a grand staircase that cuts through the troubled sky. She may be Moises’ alter ego; she may be his angel of death. But one thing is certain: She has come to bring people together and prompt them to face unresolved issues, before it’s too late.

Those who gather are Moises’ pregnant, husbandless 16-year-old niece, Tamara (Tonantzin Esparza), who has become his caretaker; his gay buddy since their childhood together in East Los Angeles, Martin (Danny De La Paz); and his theater-making collaborator and best pal, Eddie (Geoffrey Rivas); and Eddie’s wife, Alice (Lucy Rodriguez). Finally, there is Moises’ former wife, Raquel (playwright Fernandez), whom he hasn’t seen in 15 years.

Determined to keep the mood light, Moises turns old movie dialogue into one-liners--at one point evoking the hissing voice of Darth Vader as he speaks through his oxygen mask.

The troublesome drag queen, however, keeps whispering questions into the air. That is, when she isn’t otherwise busy singing disco-diva anthems or Spanish-language torch songs (which Coca delivers in a deliciously smooth, sultry voice).

As a result, Martin tearfully explains how taunts and beatings drove him from the Eastside and his Latino heritage. Raquel describes the pain of loving Moises, only to be cast aside when he could no longer live a lie.

AIDS has been addressed in gay plays since at least 1984 and these other issues for still longer. So, in some ways, “dementia” feels almost old-fashioned in its insistence on bringing up these topics at this late date. The Latino Theatre Company, however, feels a need to pull together people of all kinds and whisper questions into the air. In this way, it’s behaving a lot like Lupe, the drag queen in the story.

To judge by the audience gathered Thursday, the mission will be accomplished. As in the old days, the Los Angeles Theatre Center’s immense lobby became a meeting place for people of many cultures--straight and gay, theater lovers and first-time attendees. And they couldn’t stop talking.

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“Dementia,” Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., downtown L.A. Thursdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Oct. 20. $21-$24. (213) 473-0640. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.